Market Buzz: ECB finance in the spotlight

The December balance of payments for the European Central Bank (ECB) will be the focus of investor attention on Monday, with the US floors on holiday for the country’s Presidents Day.

The ECB is expected to produce a 15.3-billion-euro balance of payments for December 2012, Juliya Voitofvich of Investacafe said.

Monday trading in Russia is expected to be calm, according to Voitofvich: “Given no macroeconomic statistics, Russian investors will have to focus on the external news environment and commodity markets.”

World oil prices have not shown strong dynamics either, with Brent adding about 0.13% and Light contracting 0.24%.

Russian stocks closed lower on Friday: The RTS went down 0.7% to 1,577.26 and the MICEX lost 0.73% to close at 1,508.17.

US stocks finished trading last week in mixed territory: The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq dipped 0.1% and 0.2% respectively, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed just barely higher.

European markets were also of two minds: The FTSE 100 gained 0.01%, while the DAX and the CAC 40 fell 0.49% and 0.25%, respectively.

Asian markets also traded mixed: The Nikkei 225 rose by 2.12%, while the Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite declined 0.35% and 0.06%, respectively.